374. Bar AssociationFORMULA: Family Business + The Trouble with Tribbles + Hippocratic Oath + TNG Season 2
WHY WE LIKE IT: Funny as hell.
WHY WE DON'T: Rom's gross-outs.
REVIEW: Quark's cruelty towards his brother finally gets him into trouble when Bashir unwittingly breaks the Prime Directive (watch him backpedal later) and puts the idea of a union in Rom's head. Hilarity, of course, ensues. Not that Rom quite knows what to do with the idea at first, since paying customers not to enter Quark's is probably a losing proposition. But to even his own surprise, he makes a good leader, and even attracts the attention of spunky Leeta (who gets her biggest role yet and manages to be quite charming).
Bashir and O'Brien become a regular double act to join in on the fun, the latter fueling Rom's resistance with tales of a famous ancestor (the second mentioned in this episode, seems like O'Brien has a thing for creative genealogy). More funny bits than I can probably relate, but I'll mention Quark's reaction to the strike (feigned shock, classic!), Nausicaans throwing darts at each other, Bashir being flipped over a table and the boys spending the night in jail as a result, the holo-Quarks, O'Brien admitting to being bored in the Enterprise's transporter room, and Rom citing Marx chapter and verse. It also goes a bit too far at times - DS9 sometimes pushes the wrong envelope with good old-fashioned toilet humor - with Rom oomoxing himself. I could have personally done without that. Stupid Frool is another comedy bit that falls flat.
I haven't mentioned Brunt's return yet, but it's a grand one. His solutions are as evil as ever, getting revenge on Quark for earlier business I'm sure. Rom's solution is a good one too, not just how he resolves the strike, but how and why he quits the bar. Joining the Bajoran engineering staff opens new possibilities for him, more in line with his new "mechanical genius" paradigm. And though the brothers are at each others' throats throughout the episode, it does manage to be sweet in the end.
The subplot deals with Worf's growing frustration with living on the station. I really like that it wasn't all resolved in Hippocratic Oath. Worf's personality just couldn't abide it. And after he catches a thief with loot from his own quarters, he confronts Odo. But our changeling calls him on his bullshit and starts citing security breaches on the Enterprise (how long had be been keeping that list for just such a moment?). It's as funny as anything in the episode. Worf's solution is to go live aboard the Defiant. Simple and unobtrusive, but perfect for his character.
LESSON: Klingons are anti-union. They probably kill their unfair bosses.
REWATCHABILITY - High: Frequently hilarious, but there's actually a lot of good character development to be had as well, which you wouldn't expect from a "comedy episode".
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